The Divine Son

  (The contents of this page are NOT common knowledge)  

"And what? Allow law and order to be cast aside? Then what? Do we allow the very being of this realm to shatter? We are at the precipice of war, allowing the rules to be sundered would only expedite the utter destruction of the world."

— The Divine Son, First Meeting of the Mortal Gods

 

Preamble

The Divine Son is the deity seeing over the dominions of Order, Balance, Memory, Craftsmanship and Justice, who focuses on maintaining his idea of order and enjoys bringing justice. The Divine Son rarely gets involved in the affairs of mortals, instead of acting through certain followers who have proven their devotion to the deity known as Paladins. Seeing over the sphere of Order the Divine Son favours those who fight for justice in all of their forms, whether they be knights, city guards, or just good people; He sees the ability to end a conflict and bring order as a true test of character. Knowing this it is no surprise that his followers are often called on in times of strife to help vanquish perceived evils. Though governing over the realm of Order this does not mean that he is without moderation; however, in fact, he has a strong distaste for those who attempt to bring order but simply bring disorder into the world. He despises The Dark One and The Tyrant, the latter especially. He finds The Allfather annoying as he has dominion over the Hunt and War though he has no ill intent for society as a whole and cares little for the going ons of The Muse. The Pure Soul, who sees over the domain of Peace and Healing is deeply loved by The Divine Son.

Sphere Of Influence

Influence

Those who are favored by The Divine Son are those who are skilled in casting fair judgement, following laws and maintaining the status quo. He cherishes structure and organization and those who strive to bring that into the world will always catch his attention. He commands his followers to do their best to keep balance. In and out of times of war they can often be found acting as guards or knights. Like The Divine Son, many of his followers take an oath of duty, promising to fight in the name of peace and justice.

Dominion

The Divine Son is not opposed to lending a hand to those who seek to serve him, preferring to instead act through those he has gifted instead of interfering in the matters directly. While he does want his followers to make their own way and not rely on him, the end goal will always be order and so he graciously lends a helping hand when it is needed. Failure can be met with punishment or rage depending on how big the failure is, but he does reward those who simply succeed in the mission to bring balance to the world and its inhabitants. Those who show particular devotion are bestowed with the above-mentioned gifts, using them to aid them in their search of justice.

Artifacts

Sequestus has a vast array of artifacts left all around the Old World, from when he walked the face of Gaia , performing miracles and bringing wisdom to the scattered humans. These artifacts are mostly seemingly mundane, but have a magical property which makes them extremely useful, and lets people thrive. The most common example is his buckets, simple magical buckets which purify any water placed within. Though seemingly mundane, the small change allowed many a community to flourish and grow significantly larger with much less fear of waterborne disease.   It is said that Aed blesses powerful objects with his fey energy, allowing mortals to shrink the distance between Gaia and the seasonal courts.   The number of artifacts which Karmeny has produced are nigh uncountable. Most dwarfholds have one or more magical items created by Karmeny himself, and in the era which his hold traded with other empires, long past, huge numbers of magical items of his and his followers' creation were sold the world round. This has given rise to a saying when criticizing something's craftsmanship; "It's no Karmeny," meaning that the craftsmanship falls short of perfect.

Mortal Facets

Sequestus

Sequestus is one half of the pair of brother deities the humans claim as their own. The other is Anomalous, the god of chaos, and while his brother is typically depicted as a muscular, untamed man, Sequestus is usually pictured as a large, muscular builder.
Artwork by Stephen Garret Rusk
Domain(s): Order
Symbols: Books, Arches, Tools
Followers: Craftsmen and Bureaucrats
Other Names: Torvald Holdfriend, The Librarian, The Builder

Influence

Sequestus has influence over many ordered things, helping builders and bookkeepers, and many government and church officials.

Powers

Sequestus has tremendous powers of creation and construction, and is said to know all that there is to know of crafting.

Aed

Aed is the head of the Spring Elven pantheon, the god of just rulers, natural balance, and overall order. Rulers, judges, and military officers revere him especially, though all Spring Elves pay tribute. Aed represents the spring elven society, but also the laws of nature, karma, and the circle of life. Aed is often depicted as a burly spring elven man with flora growing upon his body and majestic antlers.
Artwork by Irenhorror
Domain(s): Honor / Balance / Justice
Symbols: Five-fold Knot / Deers / Spear
Followers: Hunters / Rulers / Priests
Other Names: The All-Judge / The Father Of The Hunt

Influence

Aed holds influence over the passing of judgement and bringing justice for those who have been wronged. He also brings wisdom and strength to worthy ue il’ha in times of trouble.

Powers

Aed commands a great army of both fey and mundane animals. His orders are difficult if not impossible for mortals to ignore, and he has an intuitive knowledge of what is true and what is false.

Karmeny

Karmeny is the father of all the Karmeny Karlik, and is the lord of the oldest Dwarfhold, deep under the mountains crossing the waist of the old world. Though, long ago, his hold produced wondrous items, for the past several hundred ages, his hold has been closed entirely to the outside world, and none are quite certain exactly why.
Artwork by Tygodym
Domain(s): Craftsmanship, Memory
Symbols: Open Books, Blacksmith's Hammers
Followers: Karmeny, Crafters
Other Names: Thorkon Strongforge, The Ancient Pen, The Cavelord

Influence

Karmeny has influence over forging and crafting, as well as writing and planning. He is the god of all Karmeny, but he is particularly worshiped by smiths, writers (something which all Karmeny are,) generals and tradesmen.

Powers

Karmeny has unmatchable magical might when creating enchanted goods, or constructing defensible structures. He is also possessed of incredible physical strength, and many believe him to be one of the most intelligent of all the gods, though these are mainly his followers.  

Great Cosmic Dragon

  Tiandiren: Shen Long
Akagijin: Ryujin
Within the Lotus State cultures, the Divine Son is depicted as an enormous celestial dragon who resides among the stars, which shall be referred to as the Great Cosmic Dragon. Given the many different cultures and nations, this particular facet is assigned a variety of names, but ultimately the stories featuring his image are similar enough to warrant the assignment of only one facet. Most depictions of the Great Cosmic Dragon represent him as incredibly long and wingless, with a pair of magnificent antlers and thin whiskers. His body is ethereal and translucent, dotted with the stars of the night sky. Constellations of various pieces of his treasure hoard form and change within his body, glimmering brightly in the void space.

The Creed’s Order

When the daunting yellow sun hung in the bright blue sky the Divine Son saw it fit to grant those of similar minds with his blessings, holding his sword out to knight the countless souls occupying the mortal realm.   Certain followers of the god can be blessed with the ability to smite and protect others. Though these Paladins, as they came to be known, were not simply just fighters or warriors but also champions of their faith. These Paladins were sought by many for their blessings and protection.

History

Sequestus

For most humans of Gaia, Sequestus is said to have had a major hand in creating the world known today. The Armusian Church even states that Sequestus had a hand in creating Gaia itself. What can be historically verified, however, is that Sequestus and his brother, Anomalous, emerged into the Old World at the same time as human written history began. Sequestus has been recorded as helping the humans constructing the first cathedral to the Brother Church in Armus, creating kingdoms and choosing people of good heart to lead.   Out of all the human civilizations, only few celebrate and worship Sequestus exclusively. The Gravicans are one such subrace that worship only Sequestus. They favor Sequestus so heavily because he is purported to be the patron deity of their nation. Gravicans in particular believe that The First Emperor of Gravicus, Graven I, heard the voice of Sequestus upon taking up his first Bronze Gladius, telling him that he was to create and settle a great empire on the hill he stood upon.   Sequestusians consider the upholding of law, order, ritual and social structures to be their primary concern. At this point in time, the brothers live in an idyllic, magical village at the top of Deus Mons, the tallest mountain in the world.   To Their Followers:
Sequestus is said to have come about at the same time as his brother, in the time before written history, at the dawn of man. While Anomalous was off having adventures throughout Gaia, Sequestus started working to give humans a better civilization. He started by constructing the first cathedral to the Brother Church in Armus, and then began creating kingdoms thereafter, choosing people of good heart to lead wherever he went, and gifting them with an artifact just as he would gift the community with one. These artifacts are still handed down as representative symbols of the right to rule, tens of hundreds of ages later.

Aed

In the early days of Dahu, when the first Ue Il’ha formed their first forest homes, it is stated that Aed taught the first leaders of spring elven kind the ways of statecraft, woodworking and judgement. His sisters taught all elven kind the importance of balance, homes and information.   To Their Followers:
The maker watched upon the creation of the first elves by the hands of his brothers and sisters. Pawns created for the sake of their own interests. Creatures filled with will to protect only their own domains. A whiff of inspiration filled the old god as he pulled the essence of both Gaia and the spring court together, mixing them with expertise and determination. Out of this brew, three first elves were created, equal and balanced between themselves. Two sisters to run the natural cycle, a brother to keep it balanced. Aed was made as the judge over the natural world of Gaia and protector of the spring elven lord’s childrens. In his first moments, his voice echoed through the land in chaos. A sound that could be heard through both plains, animals and fey were stunned for a second, before answering to their rightful master. As time passed on, Aed taught the Ue Il’ha many things, from hunting to the blessed art of woodworking.

Karmeny

To Their Followers:
Karmeny, after he created and seeded the world with cave dwarves, traveled from place to place, teaching them how to build homes under the earth and giving them their civilization and culture. It is said, however, that the longer he spent travelling among his people, the more tired he grew of them, keeping his own book of his experiences which slowly grew with slights and insults. Eventually this culminated in him gathering the most skilled of his people and founding his own dwarfhold, keeping only those close who he favored most. While at first this hold was extremely open to the world, after a hundred or so ages, they barred their gates to the outside world, only doing trading, and only outside their mighty hold. Then, a few hundred ages later, the trade began slowly winding down, and they ceased trading as powerfully enchanted or mastercraft items to the outside world. Finally they eventually closed off to the world entirely, and it has been a long five hundred ages since any of the dwarves inside the Karmeny Dwarfhold have been seen.

Great Cosmic Dragon

Despite the differences in other customs, what links the Lotus State together in terms of religion is a common archetype found within the mythology of the nations.   With many different names (Shen Long, Ryujin, etc), but the same overarching concept, the Great Cosmic Dragon is regarded as the absolute ruler of the mortal realm. With unbelievable power at his beck and call, the people of the Lotus State believe that the mighty entity carved out all of the eastern nations with a single swipe of his claws, gouging holes deep enough to form rivers and uprooting stone high enough to form mountains. He is believed to derive his power from his priceless hoard of artifacts, which grant him sovereignty over anything within his possession.   The hoard is not of materials riches, but rather, crystallized lore and thought. A treasure of conceptual wealth, where the purest versions of objects exist in absolute form. Take, for instance, the mightiest sword that mortal hands have ever forged. Even the pinnacle of craftsmanship is not flawless, no matter how man might present it. A master artisan is talented to capture even a fraction of the conceptual object that exists in his or her mind, and upon ‘success’, creates only a pale imitation of what exists within the Great Cosmic Dragon’s Hoard.   Up until that point, there exists a common mythology. Past that, however, the Lotus State has sharp divides on interpretations and teachings. Some nations believe that an idealized version of man must, too, exist in the Great Cosmic Dragon’s hoard, and pursuit to reach that form is the eternal journey of all mortals. Others seek to search for the fabled hoard, believing that it exists somewhere within Gaia. And still yet others focus less on the hoard and on the Great Cosmic Dragon himself, believing that one day, it will take Gaia himself, once ‘perfect’, into his hoard for eternal safekeeping.